Tag: Junior Dos Santos

Ben Rothwell has been enjoying quite the little career resurgence in recent years. After starting his UFC career off a mediocre 2-2, “Big Ben” has been running roughshod over every heavyweight he’s faced in the past three years. Even more impressive than the wins themselves has been the ways in which Rothwell has been finishing his opponents, which include a knockout win over former K1 champion Alistair Overeem and most recently, a submission of the previously unsubmittable Josh Barnett at UFC on FOX 18.

That’s the question we found ourselves asking following Cowboy’s quick and violent loss to Rafael Dos Anjos in their lightweight title rematch at UFC on FOX 17 on Saturday. Cerrone, who has managed to rattle off an unprecedented win streak in the UFC’s most stacked division, has wilted under the pressure of title fights time after time dating back to his WEC days. First, he dropped a technical decision to Jamie Varner at WEC 38, then followed it up with a pair of losses to Benson Henderson at WEC 43 and 48, respectively.

To loosely quote Tim McCarver, as good as Cerrone has looked in non-title fights, that’s how as bad he’s been in title fights. And against Dos Anjos this time around, oddsmakers and fans alike were giving Cerrone a far better chance than his previous performances against the true elite would indicate, and he simply “didn’t show up to work.”

Which is a real shame, because Cerrone’s win streak leading up to Saturday night was nothing short of remarkable — an eight fight killing spree which included three head kick KO’s, two subs, and decision wins over former champions in Henderson and Eddie Alvarez (and Myles Jury). He had earned far better than a 66 second ass-kicking to a guy with about 10 years less striking experience, but such is what we’ve come to expect from the most unpredictable sport in the world.

It’s the most heated rivalry in the heavyweight division today, and on Saturday, Dec. 19, Junior Dos Santos and Alistair Overeem settle the score in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night at Amway Center in Orlando, Florida.

In the FOX-televised card’s main event, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone challenges for a UFC title for the first time when he battles lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos in a highly-anticipated rematch.

Before the main card action was underway this past Saturday night, we had a pretty eventful weekend already.

The Ultimate Fighter 20 Finale saw a new women’s strawweight champion crowned, as Carla Esparza submitted Rose Namajunas in the final, after a string of pretty decent fights.

Then came UFC on FOX 13, headlined by a heavyweight fight featuring Junior dos Santos against Stipe Miocic. The prelims were strange but sufficient, Henry Cejudo winning his debut, younger-than-he-looks Joe Riggs suffering an injury in his Bellator superfight against Ben Saunders, John Moraga being dropped by Willie Gates after complaining about a low blow to the official, last-minute food poisoning for Derek Brunson, Jamie Varner retiring after a loss with hopes of starting a fighter union, Ryan Jimmo’s terrible seats, Phil Baroni’s shlong, and Joanna Jedrzejczyk outpointing Claudia Gadelha (who pulled a Paul Daley in the heat of the moment, but apologized right away) to go on to face Esparza in the near future.

Our friend Alex Giardini will be furiously typing out round-by-round results from the “Dos Santos vs. Miocic” main card after the jump, beginning at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and tell us how you’re feeling on twitter @cagepotatomma. Cheers!

The TUF Brazil 3 Finale (May 31st, Sao Paulo) has lost its main event — again. As first reported by Combate, former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos has been forced to withdraw from his headlining fight against Stipe Miocic due to a broken hand.

“I’m really sad. I apologize to my fans, to the UFC and to my opponent, Stipe Miocic, and hope to have another opportunity to fight in Brazil once my hand is healed,” dos Santos said in a statement.

UPDATE: Brazilian light-heavyweight veteran Fabio Maldonado has stepped in to replace Dos Santos, and will fight Miocic in the main event. After suffering three consecutive UFC losses in 2011-2012 — during which he proved that he has an elite-level ability to absorb damage — Maldonado has rallied back with three straight decision wins, most recently taking a unanimous nod against Gian Villante at UFC Fight Night 38: Shogun vs. Henderson 2 back in March. The fight against Miocic will mark Maldonado’s first heavyweight appearance in the UFC. “The Iron Hillbilly” is realistic about his chances here:

“The only thing I promise the fans is that it’s going to be a bloody, violent fight. I can’t promise the win because anything can happen, but I will do my best.”

The current TUF Brazil 3 lineup is after the jump, and features a pair of tournament finals, three semi-obscure Russian talents, and lack of star power at the top. So, it’s basically a Bellator card at this point…

During a press conference today in Mexico City, UFC president Dana White announced that Cain Velasquez and Fabricio Werdum will appear as rival coaches on the first installment of The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America (aka EL TUF), which will air this fall in Mexico and the United States. Velasquez and Dos Santos will then meet at the show’s Finale, “the week of November 15th,” according to White.

Though no other fights on the card have been booked, White vowed to bring a stacked lineup to Mexico City. “You know I want to come to Mexico with a bang,” he said. “We’re gonna bring some good fights here, I promise you.”

When a media member asked White if the UFC would postpone the event or set up a new headliner if Velasquez got injured before the fight, White tried to ward off the bad juju: “Bite your tongue. Hopefully that doesn’t happen.”

Lots more details to come. Stay tuned.

Update, via MMAFighting: Velasquez vs. Werdum and the finals of The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America will take place at UFC 180, November 15th at Mexico City’s Arena Ciudad. TUF: Latin America will feature bantamweights and featherweights, and will air on Televisa in Mexico beginning the week of August 18th. The show begins filming on May 12th in Las Vegas.

The latest re-scheduling has caused a ripple effect of fight-reshuffling behind it. Since Chael vs. Wandy had been scheduled to headline the 5/31 Sao Paulo Fight Night card, the new headliner of that event will be Junior Dos Santos vs. Stipe Miocic. And since that fight was slated as the UFC 173 co-headliner, the UFC is scrambling for another fight to support Barao vs. Dillashaw and Lawler vs. Ellenberger. Just let me know when this stuff starts to become a little confusing. I actually keep a cheat-sheet in my pocket to keep it all straight. It’s a little scrap of paper that says “www.wikipedia.com“.

Useless fact: Brown vs. Silva will mark the first time that Brown has competed in his home state of Ohio since his destruction of Pete Sell in March 2009, and the first time that Silva has competed outside of Brazil since his submission win against Charlie Brenneman in June 2012.